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The Rehearsal Recap: A Bit Convoluted
Fielder’s “inevitable” route to Washington, D.C., takes the proverbial wrong turn at Albuquerque.
But first, he needs to rehearse the part of a credible spokesperson for aviation safety, which of course means building a new set, hiring actors to study all the politicians on the committee, and filling the gallery with performers who are given the impossible task of responding to the testimony as human beings would. Bouncing off a Consequence of Sound essay by Sam Rosenberg about how The Rehearsal spoke to the author’s experience with autism, Fielder is intrigued by the idea of “masking,” a term used to describe how autistic people learn how to suppress their fear or discomfort and adapt to their surroundings as a neurotypical person would. All of that business is fine to a point—though a photo-op under the banner “Nathan’s Airport” is in dubious taste—but it twists into a roundabout way to get Fielder a meeting with a Tennessee congressman, Steve Cohen, who happens to be both the Ranking Member of the aviation subcommittee and someone with ties to autism awareness groups.
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